MAN OF STEEL CONTEST CIRCA 1986

When Superman #1, Adventures of Superman #424 and Action Comics #584 were published in the latter part of 1986 all three issues included a special mail away contest for a, for lack of a better term, collected edition of Man of Steel.  Smack dab in the middle of each book was this card.

MOS Offer 1 MOS Offer 2 MOS Offer 3 MOS Offer 4I’ve always been curious about what the book actually looked like.  Trade paperback and other collected editions weren’t unheard of in 1986 but they were far from the business model they have become today so this was a big deal.  If I had to guess I would say that the book that DC was offering up to 1000 lucky fans looked like this.

Man of Steel E Man of Steel FI have never gotten a straight answer on what was up with this edition of the collected Man of Steel.  My copy came from Titan Games and Comics.  It was on the shelf for years and for our one month anniversary back in 1999 my girlfriend (now wife) got me a gift certificate to Titans and I used it to finally buy this.  I have written about this book before but in case you missed those posts this isn’t so much a trade paperback as it is all six issues of Man of Steel, ads, covers and everything, all bound together under a very eighties looking cover.  Why do I say it is an eighties looking cover?  Because of the grid design.  For some reason when the personal computer started its rise to power in the eighties grid designs became popular.

When I asked Chuck, the manager of Titans for most of the time that shop was where I kept my pull box, about the book he said he got his copy when he worked for Diamond.  So this edition has always been something of a mystery.  I am not 100% sure that this was the version you received if you won the contest but maybe it was.  Then again there is a mock up cover on the card so maybe I am completely wrong about this.  If anyone has a line on what the book you would have won in the contest looked like let me know.  I would most certainly appreciate it.